In 1755 LeRoy passed the discharge of a Leyden jar through the orbit of a man who was blind from cataract and the patient saw “flames passing rapidly downwards.” Ever since, there has been a fascination with electrically elicited visual perception. The general concept of electrical stimulation of retinal cells to produce these flashes of light or phosphenes has been known for quite some time. Based on these general principles, some early attempts at devising a prosthesis for aiding the visually impaired have included attaching electrodes to the head or eyelids of patients. While some of these early attempts met with some limited success, these early prosthetic devices were large, bulky and could not produce adequate simulated vision to truly aid the visually impaired.
In the early 1930's, Foerster investigated the effect of electrically stimulating the exposed occipital pole of one cerebral hemisphere. He found that, when a point at the extreme occipital pole was stimulated, the patient perceived a small spot of light directly in front and motionless (a phosphene). Subsequently, Brindley and Lewin (1968) thoroughly studied electrical stimulation of the human occipital (visual) cortex. By varying the stimulation parameters, these investigators described in detail the location of the phosphenes produced relative to the specific region of the occipital cortex stimulated. These experiments demonstrated: (1) the consistent shape and position of phosphenes; (2) that increased stimulation pulse duration made phosphenes brighter; and (3) that there was no detectable interaction between neighboring electrodes which were as close as 2.4 mm apart.
As intraocular surgical techniques have advanced, it has become possible to apply stimulation on small groups and even on individual retinal cells to generate focused phosphenes through devices implanted within the eye itself. This has sparked renewed interest in developing methods and apparatuses to aid the visually impaired. Specifically, great effort has been expended in the area of intraocular visual prosthesis devices in an effort to restore vision in cases where blindness is caused by photoreceptor degenerative retinal diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa and age related macular degeneration which affect millions of people worldwide.
Neural tissue can be artificially stimulated and activated by prosthetic devices that pass pulses of electrical current through electrodes on such a device. The passage of current causes changes in electrical potentials across visual neuronal membranes, which can initiate visual neuron action potentials, which are the means of information transfer in the nervous system.
Based on this mechanism, it is possible to input information into the nervous system by coding the information as a sequence of electrical pulses which are relayed to the nervous system via the prosthetic device. In this way, it is possible to provide artificial sensations including vision.
One typical application of neural tissue stimulation is in the rehabilitation of the blind. Some forms of blindness involve selective loss of the light sensitive transducers of the retina. Other retinal neurons remain viable, however, and may be activated in the manner described above by placement of a prosthetic electrode device on the inner (toward the vitreous) retinal surface (epiretial). This placement must be mechanically stable, minimize the distance between the device electrodes and the visual neurons, and avoid undue compression of the visual neurons.
In 1986, Bullara (U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,481) patented an electrode assembly for surgical implantation on a nerve. The matrix was silicone with embedded iridium electrodes. The assembly fit around a nerve to stimulate it.
Dawson and Radtke stimulated cat's retina by direct electrical stimulation of the retinal ganglion cell layer. These experimenters placed nine and then fourteen electrodes upon the inner retinal layer (i.e., primarily the ganglion cell layer) of two cats. Their experiments suggested that electrical stimulation of the retina with 30 to 100 uA current resulted in visual cortical responses. These experiments were carried out with needle-shaped electrodes that penetrated the surface of the retina (see also U.S. Pat. No. 4,628,933 to Michelson).
The Michelson '933 apparatus includes an array of photosensitive devices on its surface that are connected to a plurality of electrodes positioned on the opposite surface of the device to stimulate the retina. These electrodes are disposed to form an array similar to a “bed of nails” having conductors which impinge directly on the retina to stimulate the retinal cells. U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,049 to Byers describes spike electrodes for neural stimulation. Each spike electrode pierces neural tissue for better electrical contact. U.S. Pat. No. 5,215,088 to Norman describes an array of spike electrodes for cortical stimulation. Each spike pierces cortical tissue for better electrical contact.
The art of implanting an intraocular prosthetic device to electrically stimulate the retina was advanced with the introduction of retinal tacks in retinal surgery. De Juan, et al. at Duke University Eye Center inserted retinal tacks into retinas in an effort to reattach retinas that had detached from the underlying choroid, which is the source of blood supply for the outer retina and thus the photoreceptors. See, e.g., E. de Juan, et al., 99 Am. J. Opthalmol. 272 (1985). These retinal tacks have proved to be biocompatible and remain embedded in the retina, and choroid/sclera, effectively pinning the retina against the choroid and the posterior aspects of the globe. Retinal tacks are one way to attach a retinal array to the retina. U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,844 to de Juan describes a flat electrode array placed against the retina for visual stimulation. U.S. Pat. No. 5,935,155 to Humayun describes a visual prosthesis for use with the flat retinal array described in de Juan.
In outer retinal degeneration, such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP), the photoreceptors and their supporting retinal pigment epithelium are impaired. In RP (incidence 1:4000) legal blindness is reached after 25 years. In many RP patients over sixty years of age, elementary vision with only gross movement or bright light perception remains, with little or no appreciable peripheral vision. Eventually, even light perception may recede. Currently, there is no treatment that stops or reverses the loss of photoreceptors in retinitis pigmentosa.
Traditionally, the approach to vision rehabilitation in subjects with retinitis pigmentosa has been to use the remaining vision with optical aides. If no useful vision is achieved, auditory or tactile information is substituted (e.g. Braille, cane travel, etc.). Attempts to remedy or alleviate vision loss have been made by replacing damaged cells or by electrically stimulating an undamaged proximal level, bypassing impaired cells. Replacement of damaged photoreceptors has been studied in animals through transplantation. Although there are indications that transplanted photoreceptors can make functional connections, many questions remain about the optimal methods to achieve long term graft survival and functionality in a human eye.
More recently, visual prostheses have been developed to address the extreme low vision population with retinal degeneration. Electrical stimulation at the primary visual cortex has been attempted and has the advantage of not requiring a viable optic nerve. However, such cortical stimulation has its own risks, such as exposing the brain to surgical complication and infection.
Stimulation at more distal neuronal locations has received recent attention and may provide an alternative in an outer retinal degenerative disease such as retinitis pigmentosa. Electrical stimulation of the optic nerve has been used to elicit a sensation of streaks or dots (phosphenes). Also, electrical stimulation through a contact lens electrode elicits phosphenes in subjects with advanced photoreceptor degeneration. These perceptual responses, and the electrically evoked responses recorded from the scalp in response to such stimuli, have been interpreted as evidence that inner retinal cells in subjects with photoreceptor degeneration retain at least partial function. However, the phosphenes elicited with a contact lens electrode or by electrical stimulation of the optic nerve lack well defined shape or localization.
The production of a small localized visual percept that might allow the generation of a two-dimensional array of phosphenes to provide “pixelized visual input” has been explored in both acute and chronic studies of blind subjects. Even partial restoration of vision in subjects blind from photoreceptor degeneration has been shown to be important.